Starting with the release of SQL Server 2016 SP1, you will probably notice that the standard edition will benefit from a lot of features previously available only on Enterprise edition. Such features concern different areas as performance, Data Warehousing and Security features. Yes Sir, this is not a joke and definitly a good reason for customers who want to move on SQL Server 2016!
Of course we may expect some limitations in terms of scalability with some features like In-Memory tables or Columnstore but that’s not so bad!
Microsoft wants a consistent Programming Surface Area and in terms of licences we may find now a similarity with Azure licensing where the edition choice is more related on requested resources than features.
Stay tuned!
By David Barbarin